Protogen on the Rim
by gh44444
Summary: A protogen mercenary is left on a desolate rimworld after his ship is destroyed. He finds himself doing his mercenary work with a tribe. Will they survive the harsh realities of the Rim. Let's find out.
1. Chapter 1:Hard Landing

The loud sounds of sirens and screaming fill the halls of the ship. A red light flashes on and off, illuminating the hallway in for just a few seconds. 

A man comes running down the hallway. He bumps into the wall as he grasps his side. He lifts his hand off his side and looks at the red that stains his gloved hand. He puts his hand back on his side and, using the wall as a crutch, walks down the hallway until he reaches a door. The sign above the door labels the room as the crypto sleep hold of the ship.

The man opens the door and walks into the hold. All the pods have been opened except for one that stands vertically. Its pod is vertical to accommodate the 6'7 inhabitant. He rushes over to the pod and wipes the mist off the top of the pod, revealing the inhabitant. 

The inhabitant is entirely different from the man. Its face is hidden behind a facemask of alien origin, which is as black as the abyss of space. Its body is a mix of organic and mechanical parts with its chest and legs completely mechanized while its stomach and arms are bears a charcoal black fur covering. On the front of its chest plate, the word 'Jekyll' is printed in black. 

The man goes over to the console of the pod and taps a few buttons, causing the pod to undue the cryosleep that leaves the inhabitant in suspended animation. The man checks behind him frantically and taps his foot, waiting for the pod to open. 

The pod finally opens after doing its animation sequence. The inhabitant steps out of the pod and instantly collapses to its knees. The man rushes to the inhabitant and attempts to pick it up too which the inhabitant puts its mechanically clawed hand up. The inhabitant gets up from its knees and faces the man. Its face mask creates a projected image on itself of eyes and a mouth.

"Jekyll, reporting for duty." The inhabitant says sternly raising a salute.

"I'm glad you're awake mercenary." The man says haggardly. "We really need your help."

"What's the situation?"

The man takes out a first aid kit and leans against the now empty pod. "Our ship has been boarded by pirates." The man beckons Jekyll over to him. "Put pressure on the wound." Jekyll obeys and uses his hands to press against the wound.

"Is that it?" Jekyll asks curiously.

"If only that was it." The man lets out a grim chuckle. "The captain died in the initial boarding so we're completely leaderless." The man looks at Jekyll. "The captain said you were the best mercenary money could buy. Now its time to prove it.

The blue lights that give off the projection of eyes look at the man. "My contract with your crew died when the captain died. As of right now, I'm just on a doomed ship with a doomed crew." Jekyll says seriously. "But….."

"But?"

"If this ship goes down, then so do I." Jekyll takes a bandage from the first aid kit and takes out a cauterizer. "That's not going to happen." He brings the cauterizer to the wound and activates it, causing the wound to seal shut. The man screams out as he does this. "What's your name and rank?" 

The man regains his breathing and stands up from his leaning position. He does a salute. "Private Higgins."

"Alright, Higgins. Point me to where the guns are."

Higgins nods and leads the way out of the cryosleep room. They walk down the hallway, the sound of gunfire seemingly getting closer with each step, and make it to the arsenal room. Higgins opens the door to the room.

The inside of the room is nearly completely empty. Most of what should have been kept in this room has long been distributed to the crew upon being boarded. What leaves, however, is a heavy pulse minigun to heavy for an average human to use without it being mounted. Jekyll walks over to it and easily picks it up with both his hands. Luckily because it's still in the room, the ammunition for it has not disappeared either. 

"Are you prepared?" Higgins asks

"Yes, but what's the plan? How many are we contending with here?"

"From what I could count, there were fifteen highly trained pirate gunners. Each was wielding a pulse rifle. And…" 

Jekyll looks at Higgins, his facemask making a frowny face. "And? What." 

"The pirates seem to have recruited a scyther to their side. It was slicing our guys to ribbons when I left."

"Great so fifteen highly skilled killers and a mechanoid. What else could go wrong?"

A robotic voice comes over the intercom of the ship. "Life support has been heavily damaged. The estimated time until oxygen is depleted is 5 minutes. Please evacuate the ship."

"I shouldn't have said anything," Jekyll says, scratching his neck fur. "Well, you heard the AI. You best get to the escape pods." 

"But what about you?" Higgins asks

"I'm going to claim some collateral for this failed contract. Specifically, the AI." Jekyll nonchalantly points his minigun towards Higgins. "Any problems with that?" 

"No problems. Seems only fair, I guess." Higgins scratches his head. "Can you at least escort me to the escape pods." 

Jekyll lets out a sigh. "As thanks for waking me up….I'll do it."

"Good. I'll lead the way." Higgins turns towards the door and exits the room, too, which Jekyll follows. 

The duo walks only a few feet forward before a bullet whizzes by Higgins's head. Jekyll quickly pulls Higgins back by his shirt, causing Higgins to fall on his ass, and places himself in Higgins's place. Jekyll unloads his minigun down the hallway, lighting the darkened halls with bright blue balls of energy. The energy shots ricochet off the steel walls and find their target, making the distinct sound of flesh sizzling. A weak moan is heard from down the hallway. 

Jekyll places the minigun on his shoulder and picks up the fallen Higgins. Higgins gives a nod of understanding and pats himself off. He then retakes the lead, and the duo continues their journey. They make it to the escape pod bay. 

Higgins moves towards the escape pod but is quickly grabbed by the shoulder by Jekyll.

"What's wrong?" Higgins asks

"Somethings off about this pod," Jekyll says, sternly opening the hatch of the pod. 

As he opens the pod, a massive explosion ruptures the pod and blasts Jekyll against the wall. The hull maintains throughout the explosion and seems to suffer non-hazardous damage. 

"Are you okay?!" Higgins asks, running over to Jekyll and placing a hand on his shoulder. 

Jekyll nods and gets up slowly. "Yeah, I'm fine." He brushes himself off. "Obviously, we're not using that pod." 

Higgins lets out a light chuckle. "Yeah, you're right." He looks down the hallway to see another pod untouched. "Let's check that one."

Jekyll moves over to the pod Higgins pointed out. He gently opens the hatch to the pod, and nothing happens. "This one is good to go." 

Higgins quickly enters the now opened pod and secures himself within it. Jekyll turns around and watches the door in case of any intruders. Higgins secures the last buckle and rests his back against the cushion of the pod.

"Are you sure you aren't going to escape as well?" Higgins asks

"I'm sure. I need my payment." Jekyll responds without facing Higgins.

"Be careful, Jekyll. These guys already eliminated a good portion of the crew. They're not a force to be trifled with." 

Jekyll turns to Higgins and puts a hand on the pod's hatch. "I'll be careful. You should be more worried about yourself. The planet below is a rimworld."

"Yeah, I'll be careful," Higgins says, pressing his body deeper into the pods cushioned interior. "Alright, send me off." 

Jekyll closes the hatch of the pod and rushes over to a console at the far edge of the room. He presses a few buttons of the brightly lit console, and the seal below the pod Higgins is in opens. With another press of a button, the pod drops through the now open seal down to the planet below. Jekyll moves toward where the pod used to be and watches as the pod descends onto the planet below. After a few seconds, the seal closes by itself, leaving Jekyll alone in the room. 

Jekyll lowers his minigun from his shoulders and revs it up. He moves towards the exit of the room and enters back into the hallways of the ship. The halls are dark, except for the flashing red lights. Jekyll activates his head-mounted flashlight, which lights up the darkness in front of him. He searches the nearby wall for any signs of a shi directory, and after a few minutes of searching, he finds it. He places a clawed finger against the directory and points to the "AI ROOM" sign. He nods and heads in the direction of the room. 

As he approaches the room, he steps in a puddle. He points his flashlight down to see a pool of blood below his feet. He looks around to see that bodies are leading to the door, all wearing the same uniform as Higgins. Jekyll kneels next to one of the bodies and checks its neck with his fingers. 

"Dead." He says uneasily.

A sound from in front of him grabs Jekyll's attention. He points his minigun towards the sound and revs up its cycler. He cautiously continues towards the sound and steps lightly, avoiding unnecessary noises, his digitigrade legs moving elegantly through the darkened hallway. His large furry ears picking up every incoming sound. 

As he approaches the door to the AI core, he detects voices coming from the room. 

"Hurry up!" A male voice shouts.

"I'm going as fast as I can!" A female voice shouts back.

Jekyll puts his ear against the steel door, leading to the room, and listens even closer to the voices inside.

"Quiet down!" The male voice stifles his shout. "We don't know if there are any more crew lurking about."

"We already killed most of them." the female voice says back. "The mechanoid we brought should be enough to kill the rest of them."

"How long till the core is exposed?" The male voice says impatiently.

"A few minutes more."

"Good. I'm going to head outside and check if there are any stragglers close by."

The footsteps indicate the approaching threat to Jekyll. He hugs the wall directly next to the door and turns off his head flashlight leaving him in complete darkness.

The door opens, and a man steps through. He wears power armor and wields a pulse gun. His face is covered by a power helmet, and he looks around. As he looks around, he spots the faint blue hue coming from Jekyll's pulse minigun. 

Before the man can make a move, Jekyll, like a professional, jabs his clawed fingers into the power helmet, breaking the high pressurized glass visor. His fingers make their way into the man's eyes and straight into his head, piercing his brain. The man falls to the ground, his body twitching from the instantaneous death. 

Jekyll cycles his minigun and opens the steel door and enters the AI room. Another power-armored enemy kneels in front of the core, which glows a mechanoid blue that illuminates the room. 

"Back so soon." The power-armored female asks almost jokingly. "The core is nearly exposed for extraction."

The only answer that is given is the sound of approaching footsteps.

"What gone quiet all of a sudden?" She says mockingly. "That's new."

The footsteps stop directly behind the power-armored woman. Something metallic pokes her power helmet, causing a low thunk sound. 

"What are you…." She stops as she realizes the man behind her is not the man she thought it was. "Who the fuck are you!" She shouts through gritted teeth

"I'm here for the AI," Jekyll says steadily. "Give it to me, and you live. You got three seconds." 

"Go to hell!" She shouts, putting her hand on a power saber by her waist. 

Before she can draw it, Jekyll unloads into her face with his minigun, effectively turning her head into ash. 

"AI-ready for extraction." A computerized voice says from the core.

"Good," Jekyll says, pulling out a drive from the back of his head. 

He inserts the drive into the extraction port of the core. The core slowly gets darker as it is extracted into the drive. After a few minutes, the core is completely dark, leaving the room in complete darkness. 

Jekyll removes the drive and inserts it back into his head.

"AI respond." Jekyll commands

"AI Haven responding." A feminine computerized voice responds, "Where is my crew?" She asks innocently 

"Dead."

"I see," Haven says with slight remorse. "I take it you will be keeping me safe then."

"Until I find a better AI."

"I understand. Integrating with HUD."

The projections of eyes and mouth on his visor turn purple in response to combing with the AI.

"Good now, you can see what I can see," Jekyll says somewhat happily. "Are your databanks still operational?" 

"Yes, they are still operational. However, through the extraction process, around 87% of information was lost due to corruption." 

"That is…..unfortunate," Jekyll says, slightly annoyed. "Do you have access to the scanners in my visor?" 

"I have access."

"Good, keep your scanners on. Just in case."

"Understood."

"Now then, Haven. Show me the way off this ship." 

"Understood."

As she finishes her words, a map is displayed on Jekyll's visor. It shows where he is by a red blinking dot and shows the quickest route to the escape pod room like an archaic GPS. Jekyll moves out of the room with haste and quickly runs down the hallways following the directions to the dot. 

As he starts to approach the escape pod room, a loud explosion rocks the ship, causing Jekyll to stagger against the wall. 

"What was that!"

"From the sound of the explosion, I can only assume the power core of the ship has been destroyed," Haven says flatly. "The ship will plummet into the planet momentarily." 

"That's just great," Jekyll says, regaining his footing. "Will we get to the escape pods?" 

"I predict that if we move fast enough, we should be able to make it with time to spare before the ship burns up in the atmosphere." 

Upon hearing this, Jekyll says nothing. In a flash, he bursts into a four-legged sprint down the hallway towards the escape pods. Within seconds he reaches the room and tries the door. The door refuses to budge. 

"What's wrong with this door, Haven?"

"The door has been sealed due to a rupture in the room. Entering will surely lead to crew casualties; thus, the door has been sealed for everyone's safety." 

"Well, the crew is already dead so…," Jekyll says, placing his hands on the door. With all the strength he can muster, he puts his clawed finger in the crevice of the door and forces the door open. The door starts to buckle under the strength of Jekyll. 

Jekyll's fur stands up, and he quickly dodges to the right of the door, just narrowly avoiding the massive scythe that penetrates the door. The scythe hits the doors sensor, and it fully opens. 

"I knew this was going to well," Jekyll says on the ground letting out a sigh.

The scythe retracts, and Jekyll is confronted with the mechanoid know as a Scyther. It's white metallic body has been blackened from the soot of the explosion earlier. One of its scythes has been blown apart, leaving it with only one functioning one which stands at the ready to penetrate Jekyll. Its a massive machine standing a foot taller than the already tall Jekyll. Its head has part of it blasted away, leaving its wiring exposed to the environment. 

Jekyll gets up off the ground and puts up his fists in preparation for combat. The Scyther replies in kind and charges Jekyll its scythe at the ready. Jekyll dodges the scythe and lunges at the Scyther, grabbing hold of its back. The Scyther struggles to knock Jekyll off its back, but being at half strength makes the task impossible. Jekyll puts his hand into the exposed head of the Scyther and starts to pull the wiring out of its head indiscriminately. 

The Scyther starts to struggle with wild abandon as its directives are quickly removed from its brain. It slashes the walls wildly and runs into the walls, desperately trying to knock Jekyll off but to no avail. Jekyll keeps pulling wires out until finally, the Scyther falls to the ground. It twitches as it tries to find the code to continue fighting. 

Seeing his chance to escape, Jekyll runs into the pod room. He quickly opens one of the two remaining pods. As he opens the pod, an explosion from inside the pod knocks him against the wall. 

"Really!?" He shouts as he rubs his head. "Fuck these pirate pricks." He gets up only to fall back down to his knees.

Jekyll looks down to see that a large piece of metal sticks out of his unarmored stomach. He falls on his butt as the pain overwhelms him. He takes heavy breathes as he places his hands against the metal shard.

"What are you doing, Jekyll?" Haven asks. "Taking out the shard will lower your chances of survival. It's currently lodged in your lung." 

"Just great," Jekyll says sarcastically through labored breaths. He gets struggles to get up and opens the last pod. He steps into the pod and sinks into the pods cushioning. "Get me out of here, Haven." 

"Understood. Overriding manual operating controls. Have a safe descent."

With her last words, the pod drops. Jekyll is greeted by the blinding sun that shines on the planet below. Through the glass window of the pod, he can see the burning hull of the ship descend into the nearby ocean, chunks breaking off as it falls. 

"The pod's thrusters are offline, Jekyll," Haven says with concern.

"What do you mean offline?!"

"I suggest bracing yourself for impact."

"Wait what-" Jekyll is interrupted by the pod crashing, landing on a hill. 

The pod breaks into parts, leaving shooting Jekyll out with such force that he goes rolling down the hill. He desperately grabs the dirt below him in an attempt to slow himself down, but his acceleration is too much. Through the fast-rolling, he catches glimpses of incoming trees. Jekyll tries to direct himself towards a tree and braces himself for impact as much as he can. 

Jekyll smashes into a tall birch tree, which lodges the metal in his body even further into him. He lets out a loud yelp as the metal pushes into him, causing blood to spill out of the wound. He lets out a hoarse cough as he positions himself on his back. 

"Congratulations on making planetfall!" Haven says gleefully.

Jekyll lacks the strength to respond to Havens's uncharacteristic emotions. He just lays on his back, staring into the blue sky through the pockets of the sky from underneath the tree. He lets a hand up and grabs at the sun with it. His vision starts to go blurry as blood seeps out of his wound. 

Just as he can feel himself passing out his ears twitch. He hears the sound of footsteps getting closer to him. They are cautious steps and come slowly as to avoid detection, but Jekyll's ears pick them up nonetheless. The footsteps stop just as they rach Jekyll. Jekyll hears some low murmuring, then a slight jab of something blunt in his side. He stirs ever so slightly. His stirring causes the feet to jump back, and the sound of something tripping can be heard. 

Jekyll can feel hands on his exposed arm fur; then, before he knows it, he can feel himself being dragged. He can only helplessly watch as he is pulled through the forest. Before he can even do anything, the last of his strength disappears, and he passes out. 


	2. Chapter 2:Work Never Ends

The first thing Jekyll notices is the feeling of hay beneath him. The next sensation he feels is the overwhelming pain in his body. Jekyll sits up slowly and carefully and looks down to his stomach to see that it has been covered in a primitive bandage, not unlike the usual glitter world bandages he's used to. He carefully lifts the bandage to see that his wound has been covered in some sort of herbal paste that reeks of medicinal herbs. He puts back the bandage and looks to his surroundings.

Jekyll finds himself in what could be best described as a tribal hut. His bed is located next to the wooden wall of the hut. A small fireplace lies in the middle of the hut, which from Jekyll's assumption, is the heating of this dwelling. On the walls are a multitude of herbs and other medicinal tools such as primitive knives and hammers. There's a shoddily constructed door that lies directly opposite of his bed, meaning that whoever enters instantly sees him. Jekyll looks to his bed, which features what feels like an animal fur cover and a hay comforter. 

"Haven, you there?" Jekyll asks weakly laying back on the bed and placing a hand behind his head. 

"Yes, I am here, Jekyll." 

"What happened to me?"

"You crash-landed on the planet and were severely injured in the process. The 'locals' took you in and stabilized you while you were passed out. Now we are within their village in what I have designated as a healing hut of some sort."

"I see. What's my current damage?"

"Your ribcage has been cracked. Your left leg is currently broken. Your index and pinky on your right hand are broken. Your right lung has been removed. You have a multitude of bruises all over your body."

"So that's why I feel like shit." Jekyll jokes. "How long till full recovery?"

"With the current medical capabilities…..Three months."

"That's a long time."

"However, being of mechanical nature such as yourself, you can still walk normally and can still operate machinery just fine. The only problem being your lung capacity has been halved." 

Jekyll thinks to himself, hearing this news. Just as he opens his mouth, the door to the hut is tried and opened. Jekyll looks to the door and sees a little girl enter the room. She is young, maybe in her teens. She has long blonde hair that has neither seen a wash nor a comb ever. She wears a simple tribal wrap as clothing and carries what looks to be an oversized meatball. Her most outstanding feature is her long ears, which point at the tips. 

She gives Jekyll one look and instantly drops the oversized meatball on the dirt floor and runs outside the room.

"Not much for first impressions," Jekyll says sarcastically. He sits up in the bed and clutches his stomach.

Jekyll can feel eyes on him as he sits up. He looks to the door to see the girl peeking into the room while hiding behind the door. Jekyll ears twitch as he hears a distant shout in an unfamiliar language directed at the girl. The girl looks behind her and lets out a responsive yell back. 

"Can you translate, Haven?"

"Yes, but I require more data to translate. It would be wise to get this girl to talk to you so that I can collect the required data." 

"Understood."

The girl cautiously renters the room and picks the meatball from off the ground. She slowly walks towards Jekyll, her eyes focused on the ground. She stops just before she hits the bed and hands Jekyll the meatball. Jekyll outstretches his hand, and she plops the meatball into his hand. 

Jekyll brings the meatball in front of him and looks at it, inspecting it. 

"Haven, what is this?" 

"This is what the locals call pemmican. Its a mixture of both plant matter and meat. It can last for about 2 years in storage and is a nutritious meal." 

"How does it taste?"

Haven goes quiet, causing Jekyll to hesitate to put the meatball in his mouth. He looks to the girl who has an expecting look on her face. Jekyll lets out a sigh and opens his mouth, slowly putting the meatball in his mouth. He chews on it. The flavors of what could be rice and some sort of mystery meat explode in Jekyll's mouth. The texture is smooth and pasty, and Jekyll quickly swallows it down in an attempt to get rid of the flavor. 

Jekyll takes a quick glance at the girl who has a big smile on her face. Jekyll cracks a smile with his LEDs. Unexpectantly the girl gets into the bed with him and puts a hand on his head. She gently pets Jekyll as she hands him another meatball from her wrapping pocket.

Jekyll takes it and puts it in his mouth. This time he avoids chewing it and simply holds it in his mouth, waiting for the nanites in his mouth to do their work, breaking the pemmican down. 

"Gud boi." The girl says with glee as she continues petting the confused Jekyll. "Waht fja ahe pe ait ajr tr?"

Jekyll looks at her, confused. "Haven?" 

"Keep her talking Jekyll. I'm at 25% translation." 

"Kat aht ajs adgeva roakf lakcuak ajsd." The girl says with slight fear.

"75%." 

"Wdsta and ahea-"

"Translation complete."

"And then we saw you fall from the sky. Are you able to fly?" The girl says, looking for Jekyll 's wings. 

"No, I do not fly," Jekyll responds. 

"You understand my language!" The girl says gleefully. "You must be from around here? What tribe are you from?"

"I'm not from a tribe. I'm a mercenary."

"Mer-ce-canary? What's that?"

"It means I kill for money."

"Money?"

Jekyll lets out a sigh. "Its like currency."

"Currency?"

"Ugh." Jekyll makes some motions with his hands. "We trade currency for goods."

"Oh, okay. Like when Turtle goes out and trades muffalo for meat?" 

"Yeah, something like that."

The girl looks proudly at Jekyll as if she just unlocked something no else has. She stops petting Jekyll and takes out another meatball.

"How many of those do you have?" Jekyll asks, slightly annoyed. 

"Uh." The girl pulls out all the meatballs in her pocket. "This many."

Jekyll realizes his mistake and looks at the meatballs, which number 15. He internally screams as he realizes that she wants to feed him that many meatballs. 

"What are you?" The girl asks out of the blue, taking a bite out of one of the meatballs. 

"I'm a protogen."

"Pro-toe-gen?"

"Yeah, half mechanical-" Jekyll knocks his legs, which makes a metallic noise. "And half flesh." He takes her hand and places it on his furry stomach. 

"Very soft." The girl says, placing her face against his stomach. "Softer than muffalo." 

"Uh yeah," Jekyll says, gently pushing her face off his stomach. 

The girl sits up and looks at him with a confused face. "Are you also a ram?" She says, pointing to Jekyll's horns. 

"No." Jekyll places his hand on his horns that curve like a ram's downwards towards his face. "I was created with these."

"What's your name?" The girl asks, taking a bite out of her meatball. 

"Jekyll."

"Jek-ell." The girl says, trying to pronounce his name. She points to herself. "Orange." 

She lifts her wrap, causing Jekyll to shield his eyes. She quickly takes hold of Jekyll's arm and brings it down. Jekyll gets an eyeful of her leg, which bears a birthmark that looks exactly like a freshly picked orange. She lowers her wrap. 

She hugs Jekyll's furry stomach and presses her face into it. His dark grey fur parts to make way for her face. Jekyll raises his arms, unsure of what to do other than to let her ruffle his fur. 

"So soft," Orange says, her voice muffled by the fur.

She squeezes Jekyll as tight as she can and buries her face further into his fur until he can feel her nose against his bare skin.

"Am I really this soft?" Jekyll thinks to himself.

After a couple of minutes of this uncomfortable snuggling, Jekyll places his arms around Orange in an attempt to peel her off him, but alas, she hugs even tighter. Just as he thinks he's had enough, the door to the hut opens. 

4 people cautiously enter the room. From what Jekyll can tell its one middle-aged man, a middle-aged woman, an old woman, and a young man. They shuffle into the hut and spread out within the room. Each of them gives Jekyll a curious yet equally fearful look. They each wear a yellow-colored tribal wrap that covers their private parts, and they all have the same pointed ears as Orange does. 

The first one to approach Jekyll is the middle-aged man.

"You must be wondering where you are?" The middle-aged man asks cautiously.

"Yes, I am," Jekyll responds sternly.

"You are in the village of Camxo." The man says, taking a seat by the foot of the bed. "I am chief Antelope, and these are my people." 

"The names Jekyll. I'm a protogen mercenary."

"Pro-toe-gen? Mer-ce-nary? I'm having trouble understanding these words." Antelope says confusedly.

"It's fine; it doesn't matter," Jekyll says, finally putting his arms down so that they rest on Orange's back. 

Jekyll quickly scans the other villagers. "What are their names?"

Antelope looks towards the middle-aged woman. "That is Lecerco, my wife." He looks to the older woman. "That is Ato, our elder and medicine woman." He looks to the young man. "And that is Turtle, my son." 

"And Orange is….?" Jekyll starts.

"An orphan. Her family was killed by the great blood machines that descended on our tribe last summer." Antelope says sadly. "We are the only survivors of that raid."

"I see." Jekyll ponders the thought. He looks at Ato. "Thank you for healing me. I would have died if it weren't for you."

Ato gives a solemn smile and a gentle nod. She quickly hurries out of the room as if she remembered she forgot something.

"If you don't mind…." Antelope begins to say. "I would like to talk to you privately."

"Of course," Jekyll responds.

Antelope does a nod to Lecerco, who approaches Orange and peels her off of Jekyll. She leads her out of the room with Turtle following close behind. Turtle closes the door behind them, leaving Antelope and Jekyll alone in the room. 

"What is it you want to talk about, Chief?"

Antelope gets up from the bed and paces the room as if he's trying to collect his thoughts. Jekyll watches as he paces. Antelope stops pacing and looks at Jekyll.

"I want to recruit you to protect us," Antelope says, almost begging. 

"Why do you need protection? Your tribe doesn't give off the aura of a warlike one."

"Yes, I admit we are a peaceful tribe. However, our neighbors do not follow our peaceful ways. They constantly harass our borders and steal our food." Antelope says. "They recently stole burnt down our harvest of corn this spring."

"So, what would you have me do?" Jekyll asks, "You want me to kill them?" 

Antelope looks at Jekyll with a grim expression. The same expression Jekyll has seen many a time. The look of someone who wants peace when peace is just a faraway dream.

"I understand," Jekyll says, taking off the sheets that cover his legs. He stands up and towers over the shorter Antelope. "What kind of weapons do you have?" 

Antelope nods and leads Jekyll towards the exit of the hut. Both men walk outside and are greeted by the waning sun. Antelope heads towards a longhouse that lies directly in the middle of the tribal settlement. Jekyll barely has time to register the separate huts that all surround the longhouse.

They head inside the longhouse, which is lighted by a single torch in the center of the building. Antelope stops just as they enter the longhouse.

"Actually, it would be best if you wait outside," Antelope says. "We don't let outsiders inside the storage room." 

"Understandable," Jekyll says, leaving the house. 

Jekyll waits outside and catches a glimpse of Turtle playing a hoop stone game with Orange. Jekyll cracks a smile as he watches Orange hit a bullseye in the ring. Turtle frowns as she hits another bullseye while his stones go way off the mark.

Jekyll is tapped on the shoulder from behind. He turns around to see Antelope holding a spiked club in his hand. Antelope holds the club out for Jekyll to receive.

"Is this all you have?" Jekyll asks, taking the club. 

"We are not a warlike people. We only have this for self-defense against animals."

Jekyll puts a hand to his face in disbelief. "Alright, alright, I can make this work." He says under his breath. "When do you think the next raid is going to happen?" 

"I'm unsure. It could happen tomorrow or a week from now." Antelope says with disparity. "They attack randomly to keep us fearful."

"Do you have a watchtower or something of the like?"

"Yes, we do," Antelope responds. "Follow me." 

Jekyll follows Antelope towards the edge of the village. From the walk, Jekyll spots that the whole village is surrounded by a natural wall of high rocks, leaving only one entrance to the east of the village. 

"This is the perfect location for a military base." Jekyll thinks to himself.

Antelope stops and points to a tower located next to the mountain.

"That's our watchtower. You can signal the whole village by lighting the fire at the top."

Jekyll looks at the watchtower wholly baffled by it. What should be a well constructed and maintained watchtower is a shoddily crafted and hastily built tower. At the top is a fireplace with a stone surrounding used for sending signals. The woodwork that makes up the tower seems to have been reconstructed multiple times. 

"If it's not too much trouble, chief." Jekyll starts. "I would like the village to build a hut out here so that I can operate the tower without having to go far away from it."

"That will take some time, but I can see to it."

"Thank you."

Both men watch the sun go down, and the moon rises. As the moon rises, Jekyll's ears twitch. 

"Someone's coming," Jekyll says, lifting the club into a fighting position. 

"How can you tell?" Antelope says quietly

"My ears can pick up sounds from a mile away," Jekyll says. "Especially humanoid footsteps. Are you expecting any friendlies?"

"No one is friends with us. Most likely, a raider. What are you going to do?" Antelope asks 

"Obviously, I'm going to meet this raider." 

"Are you sure that's a good idea? What if its more than one?"

"Then I'll kill both of them." Jekyll says bluntly, "You stay here I'll be back, momentarily." 

"Wait-" Antelope starts, but before he can say anymore, Jekyll rushes into the night, his silhouette disappearing quickly in the darkness. 

"Spirits be with you." Antelope prays.

Antelope stays in his position and listens carefully to the environment. He hears nothing but the sound of crickets in the night and a cool breeze wafting over the grassy ground. That's when he hears a scream in the night. He turns back towards the village, but the sound does not originate from there. A shout echoes through the night and is quickly silenced. The sound of footsteps rapidly approaches Antelope, who lights a torch and readies his fists. Antelope spots a silhouette than the form of Jekyll, then finally, the details of Jekyll stand out in the night. Jekyll carries something on his right shoulder. 

"What is that?" Antelope asks curiously.

"One of the raiders. Still alive." Jekyll says as he continues his approach. As he approaches the blood caking, his armor and fur are more visible. "We got somewhere to store her?" 

"Uh yes," Antelope says anxiously. "We can use where you were sleeping."

"Good." Jekyll wipes the blood from off his visor. He walks past Antelope and heads back towards the village.

Antelope follows close behind Jekyll. He peeks at the prisoner whose hair covers her face. Jekyll arrives at the hut and heads inside with Antelope in tow. Jekyll places the prisoner on the bed.

"We need Ato in here. Immediately." Jekyll bluntly says, breathing heavily. 

"I'll go get her," Antelope says fearfully.

Jekyll turns to Antelope. "Don't fear me. I'm on your side."

"Of course."

Antelope leaves the hut hastily. As he leaves, Jekyll takes a seat on the bed. His LEDS burst into a big smile. 

"This is going to be a fun job." He gleefully says.


End file.
